BRUCE LEE

Born in Shanghai but based in France since the early 1980s, Yan Pei-Ming has developed a creative practice built around a near-obsessive commitment to the portraiture genre. By intentionally limiting his subject matter, technique, and palette, Yan has built an extraordinary body of work which gains in depth through the use of repetition and variation. Yan paints self-portraits, family members, anonymous strangers, anonymous victims of crimes or disasters, or more iconic figures, like Chairman Mao or Bruce Lee. These images are drawn from memory, sometimes abetted by newspaper photos or other mementos. Within his chosen vocabulary, the creation of these images serves as a process of externalization, one that allows Yan an extended meditation on the persons in his life, the meaning of their existence, and the subjective quality of the artist's relationship to his subject.

Bruce Lee (Lot 130) shows another side of the renowned martial artist, one that without the charm and halo of the superstar on the big screen or magazines. The head dominating the composition confronts viewers with his determined gaze and serious expression, reminding viewers that the star was also a philosopher. Bruce Lee founded Jeet Kune Do, a martial arts philosophy that combines the essences of both Chinese and Western martial art schools, and adapts Taoism as major philosophical frame work. A master of monumental paintings, Yan once said, “(Bruce Lee) has to be painted as a monumental work. As he was a movie star, I wanted to create a huge painting that reminds people of the scale of a cinema.” The powerful and bold strokes vividly capture the spirit of Bruce Lee, impressing viewers of the timeless spirit and legend of the martial arts master.